The Joplin Globe, Joplin, MO

Opinion

Discussion

November 21, 2009

In Our View: Making good on promise

For the second year in a row, in-state, undergraduate students at Missouri’s four-year, public colleges and universities and at two year-community colleges won’t see increases in tuition or academic fees.

It’s a campaign promise that Gov. Jay Nixon has made good on.

Last week, Nixon announced the deal where by universities and colleges would not raise tuition on in-state, undergraduate students for the 2010-11 school year. In return, Nixon has agreed to maintain higher education funding at approximately 95 percent of the current fiscal year’s appropriation.

For Missouri Southern State University, the cut in state funding in 2010-11 will amount to about $1.2 million.

When we think back to the withholdings while Bob Holden was governor, this seems like a much better arrangement for higher education.

We remember Nixon telling us — before he was elected — how important it was to make it easier and cheaper for people to go to college. Getting better jobs for Missouri depended on more training and better education.

Four-year institutions will see a reduction of 5.2 percent funding, or $42 million. Two-year colleges will see the same percentage of reduction, or about $8 million.

Prior to last year’s freeze, tuition at Missouri’s public, four-year colleges and universities increased by an average of 7.5 percent a year over the past decade.

As the area waits for the economy to rebound and jobs to open up, many people are using the time to further their education. That means that enrollments are up. That money should offset part of what the colleges and universities will be losing.

Tuition has jumped by an average of 6.5 percent nationally. In some states, that increase has been as much as 17 percent.

And then there’s California. Last week, students at University of California-Berkeley were protesting a 32 percent increase in student fees and had barricaded themselves inside part of a campus building. About 30 to 50 protesters staged a takeover of Campbell Hall at UCLA on Thursday, as regents met across campus to approve the fee hike. More than 50 students were arrested during protests at UC-Davis.

Regents say they had to raise fees because the cash-strapped state government can’t meet the university’s funding needs.

All in all, it looks like Missouri is on the right track.

Text Only
Opinion
Local News

Twitter Updates
Follow us on twitter
Follow me on Twitter
Poll

The Missouri National Guard has refused to respond to repeated open records requests concerning possible looting by a few of its members in the aftermath of the Joplin tornado. The Missouri Sunshine Law gives the guard an exemption. Do you think that law needs to be changed?

Yes.
No.
     View Results
Facebook
Poll

The Missouri National Guard has refused to respond to repeated open records requests concerning possible looting by a few of its members in the aftermath of the Joplin tornado. The Missouri Sunshine Law gives the guard an exemption. Do you think that law needs to be changed?

Yes.
No.
     View Results
NDN Video
Beryl Makes Landfall on Florida Coast UN Blames Syrian Forces for Shelling Houla Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium 50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Sports